Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1887-05-30
WHEELING, ". VA, MONDAY MORNING. MAY 3d. 1887

a year at any Tltc on Decorl-
ton Day, shall be resurrected into the
remembrance of those for whom ] died.
Here go for God and my country" If
foreign foe should ever come all sectional
animosities would be obliterated. Here go
our regiments into the battle, side by side,
Fifteenth New York Volunteers, Tenth Ala
hama Cavalry, Fourteenth Pennsylvania
Rihemen, Tenth Massachusetts, Artillery,
Seventh South Carolina Sharp Shooters.
have no faith in the cry: mo North, No
South, No East, No West" Let all four
sections keep their peculiarities and their
preferences, each doing its own work and
not interfering with each other, each of
the four carrying its part i'll the great har-
mony-the bass, the alto, the tenor, the
soprano in the grand march of the Union.
| congratulate you, the officers and SOL
diers of this National Encampment, that if
a FOREIGN ATTACK
shonld at any time he made you wonld he
ready, and there would be millions ~ the
drilled men of North and South, like the
men of my first text, which could keep
rank, and, like the men of my second text,
that would not miss hair-breadth.
At this national drill, when thirty-one
States OF the Union are represented, and
between the decorations of the graves of
the Southern dead which took place few
days ago, and the decorations of the graves
of the Northern dead, which shall take
place tomorrow, wOuld stir the Christian
patriotism and gratitude not only of this
soldiery here present, but of all the people,
by putting before them the difference be-
tween these times, when the soldiers of all
sections meet in peace, and the times when
they met in contest. Contrast the feeling
of sectional bitterness in 1852 with the
feeling of sectional unity in lss7. AT the
first date the South had hanished
the national air." The Star Spangled
Banner" and the North had ban
ished the popular air of Way Down
South in Dixie" The Northern peo-
pie were 'mudslls' and the Southern
people were white trash" The more
Southern people were killed in battle, the
better the North liked it. The more
Northern people were killed in battle, the
better the South liked it. For four years
the head of Abraham Lincoln or Jefferson
Davis would have been worth million
dollars, If delivered on either side the line.
No need now, standing in our pulpits and
platforms of saying that the North aud
South did not hate each other. To esti
mate how very dearly they loved each
other, count up the bombshells that were
| hurled, and the carbines that were loaded;
and the cavalry horses that were mounted,
North and South facing each other all
armed, in the attempt TO kill. The two
sections not only marshalled all their
earthly hOstilitics, hut tried to reach up
and get hold OF the sword of heaven, and
the prayer of the Northern and Southern
pulpitS gave more information TO the heav-
ems about the best mode of settling this
trouble than was ever used. For four
years both sides tried to get hold of
THE LORDS THUNDERBOLTS,
but could not quite reach them. Al the
breaking out of the war we had not for
months heard of my dear uncle, Samuel j.
Talmage, President OF the OrIethorpc Uni
versity, in Georgia. lie was about the
grandest man | ever knew, and as good ;rS
good could be. The first we heard Of INN
was his opening prayer in the Confederate
Congress in Richmond, which was reported
in the New York papers, which prayer If
answered would, tO say the least, have left
all his Northern relatives in very uncOm-
Portable circumstances. The ministry at
Che North prayed one way, and the min
| istry at the South prayed the other way.
| No use in hiding the fact that the North
and the South cursed each other with Il
whitening and all consuming curse.
Besides that antipathy OF war time |
place the complete accord of this time.
Not long ago meeting in New York was
held tO raise money to build Home at
Richmond for crippled Confederate soldiers,
| the meeting presided over by man who
lost an arm and a leg in fighting on the
| Northern side, and the leg not lost 80 hurt
| that il does not amount to much. The
Cotton Exhibition held not long ago ut
Atlanta, was attended by tens Of thou
sands of Northern people, and hy General
| Sherman, who was greeted with kindness,
as though they had never seen him before.
At the New Orleans Exhibition, held two
yeOrs ago, every Northern State was rep
resented. A thousand fnld kindlier feeling
after the war than before the war
M MORE Use or GUNpOwnER
in this country, except for rifle practice, or
Fourth of July pyrotechnics, or shot at
rOebuck in the AdirOndaCks. BrigadIer
Generals in the Southern ConledeTrry max
| ing their fortunes ~ lawyers in the North
ern cities. Rivers of Georgia, Alabama
and NOrth Carolina turning mills of New
England capitalists. The old lions of war
Fort Sumter, and MOultrie, and I.afay-
ettc, and Pickens, and Hamilton, sound
asleep on their iron paws, and instead OF
raisiug money Ia keep enemies ont of our
New York harbOr, raising E'Oney for the
Bartholdi Statue on BedlNe's Island figure
of Liberty with uplifted torch tO lignt the
way tO all who want 10 come IN. Instead
of war antipathies. when you could not
cross the line between the contestants with
out fighting your way with keen steel, or
getting through by passes carefully scrutin-
lied at every step by hayOnctS, you need
only q railroad ticket from New York 10
Charleston or New Orleans, 10 20 clear
through, and there IL no Use for any
weapon sharper or stronger than n steel
pen. Since the years of time began their
roll. has there ever been in about two de-
cades, Snch au overmastering antlthesis ~
between the war time of complete bitter
ness, and this time Of complete sympathy?
Contrast also the domestic life Of those
times with the domestic life Of these
times. Many of you were either leaving
home or Ear away from it, communicating
by uncertain letter What morning that
was when you left home Father and
mother crying, sisters cry, you smiling
outside hut crying inside. Everybody
nervous and excited. Boys Of the blue
and gray whether you started from the
hanks Of the Hudson. or the Savannah, OF
the Androscnggin, don't you remember the
scenes ut the front door, at the rail car
window, on the Steamboat landing? The
huzza could not drown out the suppressed
sadness. Don't yOu remember thOSe
charges TO write home often, and take good
care Of yourself, be good boys, and take
good care Of yourself, bc good boys, and
the goodbye kiss which they thought,
and you thought, might be forever. Then
the homesickness a. you paced the riVer
bank on starlight night
on PICKET DUTY,